Writing Style

Setting

Chapter 1

The story opens in Twilight Sparkle's point-of-view with her, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy headed over to Logan's home, having been invited over to play video games with him. When they get there, they find that he is playing Guitar Hero, and has started to play "I Wanna Be Sedated" as made famous by the Ramones. Once the song ends, it he is scored as having hit 100% of the notes on Expert. Logan asks what the Mane 6 and Spike thought of his performance, however, they're unable to answer, as they aren't sure what exactly he was doing.

When Logan tells them he was playing Guitar Hero, Twilight asks what that is. The perspective then changes to Logan's point-of-view and he explains what Guitar Hero is and how it's played. Spike tells him that he must have done well, given the percentage of notes he hit. Logan says that doesn't surprise him as he claims to know all the note tracks of every song by heart. When Applejack asks him how that's possible, he explains that he's been playing for quite a while. When Rarity asks him how long, he tells the group to sit on his couch so he can explain it. He then tells them about how he came to like Guitar Hero, why he likes it so much and how he got so good at it. He then offers to teach them how to play, and they accept his offer.

Chapter 2

The second chapter basically involves Logan playing the tutorial to teach the Mane 6 and Spike how to play.

Chapter 3

Logan asks who would like to play Co-Op with him first, offering to let them be player one with him being player two, and always playing on Expert. Fluttershy volunteers to play first and they play "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" as made famous by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (or, as they are referred to in Equestria, Joan Pegasus and the Greyhearts). Fluttershy opts to play on Easy mode with Logan playing the bass on Expert. The both of them play flawlessly, Fluttershy's occasional missed note not withstanding, and they both sing along with the music. Fluttershy ends up hitting 96% of her notes, and Logan hits 100% of his.

Spike volunteers to play next. Twilight casts a spell on him that makes him big enough to hold the controller, and he selects Medium difficulty. He and Logan then play "Iron Man" as made famous by Black Sabbath (or, as they're called in Equestria, Black Saddle), who also happen to be a favorite band of Rainbow Dash's. The two of them play, this time with only Logan singing along. Spike hits 95% percent of his notes, and Logan, to the surprise of nopony in the room, hits 100% of his notes.

Applejack volunteers to play next and Twilight turns Spike back to normal. Applejack chooses to play "Sharp Dressed Man" as made famous by ZZ Top (or, they're called in Equestria, ZZ Trot), a band she loves. Applejack hits 91% of her notes and Logan hits 100% of his.

Pinkie then shouts that it's her turn and she swipes the controller from Applejack's hooves. She then selects Hard difficulty and starts flipping through the song list, briefly listening to the preview for each song, writing each one off as being "too slow" or "too boring." She eventually comes to a halt on the final song in the game, shouting that it's her "jam." Logan comments that it's a good thing she settled on that song, calling the hardest song in the game and telling her she'd need to play a different game for a harder song. Pinkie says that she's fine with that, saying that Guitar Hero 1's song list is "hit-and-miss" for her. Logan the decides to skip Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and move on to Guitar Hero III, stating that the songs the former two games are "better in Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, anyway."

The two of them then play the song "Bark at the Moon" as made famous by Ozzy Osbourne (name unchanged in Equestria). Pinkie surprises everypony by hitting 100% of her notes. When asked how she did this, she explains that her sister Limestone listened to Ozzy Osbourne all the time when she "went through her black metal phase a few years ago," and that she remembered the song from when she went to visit her during that time.

Logan then says it's time to move on to Guitar Hero III, but all of their stomachs roar in unison, indicating that they're all hungry. Logan then makes snacks for them all to enjoy whilst playing.

Chapter 4

Logan, having finished making lunch for them all, starts up Guitar Hero III, asking who wants to play with him first. Rarity volunteers, much to the surprise of everypony except Logan. After a brief description of all the playable venues, Rarity selects her song. When she sees it, she is overjoyed at the idea of playing a song by "the most glamorous band in Equestria." She and Logan then play the song "Rock and Roll All Nite" as made famous by KISS (name unchanged in Equestria) and both of them sing. Rarity surprises everypony by playing and acting "like a rabid fanfilly," even thrusting her hips to and fro, making Spike's crush on her flare up and giving him hearts in his eyes. She ends up hitting 97% of her notes on Medium. She then comments that she had "never felt so messy... so untidy... so unfabulous... yet [she] enjoyed every last moment of it." Logan tells her "Guitar Hero... finds the rock star deep inside you and lets him or her loose..."

Twilight then offers to play next. She and Logan then play the song "Even Flow" by Pearl Jam (or, as they're called in Equestria, Pony Jam) and both of them sing. Twilight acts similar to how Rarity had in the previous song. She ends up hitting 95% of her notes on Medium and comments that she had acted "un-princess like" and wonders what Princess Celestia would think of her wild behavior. Logan dismisses her fears and he and Twilight hug.

Applejack notices another song that she would like to play, and she and Logan play "La Grange" as made famous by ZZ-Top/ZZ-Trot, and both of them sing. Applejack hits 90% of her notes on Medium, and then Pinkie Pie takes a turn. She and Logan play "Rock You Like a Hurricane" as made famous by the Scorpions (or, as they're called in Equestria, the Manticores). Pinkie hits 99% of her notes on Hard.

Rainbow Dash then takes her turn and she and Logan play "Paranoid" as made famous by Black Sabbath/Black Saddle. She hits 98% of her notes on Hard and then notices another song she wants to play. She and Logan then play "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses (or, as they're called in Equestria, Colts N' Roses). She ends up hitting 94% of her notes on Hard.

Pinkie Pie then asks Logan to play a few songs solo. Logan accepts and then plays the 2007 re-recording of "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour (name unchanged in Equestria), hitting 100% of the notes on Expert, much to the shock of Twilight. He then plays the song "One" by Metallica (or, as they're called in Equestria, Metallicolt), despite Rainbow Dash attempting to dissuade him. When he begins playing, the song appears easy, much to Twilight's confusion as to why Rainbow had tried to stop him. But once the song reaches the guitar solo, she understands why Rainbow tried to stop him. Once again, Logan baffles Twilight by hitting 100% of the notes on Expert.

Logan tells them that after one more song, he'll teach them about battle mode. Twilight expresses hope that he doesn't "pick another heavy metal nightmare like he had just played." However, once Logan highlights his song, Twilight's hopes of him "not choosing another metal monstrosity died the very moment the preview played." She describes the preview as "a cacophony like no other," claiming that she "couldn't believe what [she] was hearing," and that there was "just no way music like that was possible to make." But then, Fluttershy says she's going to play Co-Op with Logan for that song, much to the utter shock of Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

She explains that DragonForce's members are all adult dragons who didn't give in to their greedy nature and thus are about the size of teenage dragons. She also says that she had listened to the song so many times that she knew it by heart. When Twilight asks how Fluttershy knows all this, Fluttershy explains that she got to meet DragonForce backstage after the concert and that she asked them some questions. She also explains that she had told them that Twilght might want to know more about dragons, so they promised to send her books on dragons in the mail. She then rushes back to her house to fetch something.

While Fluttershy's gone, Logan jokes that he and Fluttershy are better than Herman Li because they hit 100% of the notes on Expert while Herman couldn't get further than 5% of the song on Hard. Fluttershy then returns with 2 books in her hooves; one on dragon biology, and the other on dragon culture. She gives the books and a hug to Twilight and Logan says it's time to teach them about battle mode.

Chapter 5

Logan shows Twilight and the others the tutorial for Battle Mode. After the tutorial and a brief rundown of all the various power-ups, Logan shows them the guitar battle against Tom Morello (or, as he's called in Equestria, Grandmaster Flash,) of Rage Against the Machine (name unchanged in Equestria,) fame. Logan starts the battle, getting hit by Tom's attacks and shrugging them off with minimal, if any, trouble, but he doesn't use any attacks… until the very end, when Tom begins his victory solo. At that moment, Logan unleashes his stored attacks, finishing Tom in seconds.

Logan then shows them the guitar battle against Slash (name unchanged in Equestria,) from Guns 'N' Roses/Colts 'N' Roses. The ensuing battle followed the same pattern as the battle with Tom Morello, including Logan saving all of his power-ups until Slash's victory solo and the promptly using them to finish off Slash.

Logan then shows them the guitar battle against Lou, the devil of Rock music. This battle is a surprise to Applejack by being a heavy-metal cover of one of her favorite country songs, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," and it comes as a surprise to the others, including Applejack, due to the song's sheer speed and intensity. This time, Logan uses his power-ups to attack Lou after the lyrics end rather than waiting until Lou's victory solo. He then plays the ending "finisher" solo and defeats Lou.

Logan then tells them that he won't be fighting any of them, and that they will be fighting each other. Applejack and Rainbow Dash volunteer to battle each other and select Hard difficulty. They then start calling each other mean names and start insulting each other, each insult and mean name earning gasps of shock from Rarity and Twilight and irritating Logan. Then Logan grabs them both by their necks and screams, "WILL YOU TWO JUST [redacted] ALREADY?!" Everypony in the room gets wide-eyed at hearing Logan scream at Rainbow and Applejack to engage in sexual intercourse(not to mention in his use of highly vulgar language). He then screams, "Ether start [redacted] each other's brains out, or stop fighting every [redacted] nanosecond!"

Everypony in the room stares at him in shock at what he had said, and he puts Rainbow and Applejack on the floor and takes a few deep breaths. Applejack and Rainbow Dash look at each other awkwardly, and Logan apologizes for his outburst, explaining, with Spike's help, that their fights give him a sort of "love-hate" impression. Rainbow Dash and Applejack then hug, reconcile, promise to never argue again, and to only compete with each other for fun.

Logan smiles, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash's battle begins. At first, Applejack's first power-up causes Rainbow Dash to fail very quickly. When Rainbow Dash asks what happened, Logan explains that Battle Mode isn't as easy as it looks. He also explains that something similar happened to him on his first try; "the very first power-up either of [them] got crippled the other player and ended the match in seconds in a clear case of what gamers call 'Mario Kart Syndrome,'" as he puts it.

He then explains that they should try it on an easier difficulty first, rather than start on Hard. They then change the difficulty to Easy mode and battle each while playing "Slow Ride" as made famous by Foghat. This time, their battle is longer. In the end, Rainbow Dash wins the battle, and she and Applejack congratulate each other and hug.

Logan then explains that he would to see more of this good sportsmanship out of them, much to Rarity's confusion. When she asks what he meant by that, Logan reminds her of an certain incident. Pinkie Pie then guesses that he's referring to the time when they dressed up as Mare Do Well. Logan starts to ask how she knew what he was talking about, but he quickly stops himself by saying, "It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it."

Twilight then asks how that incident came to mind. Logan then chastises them for their actions as Mare-Do-Well. He explains that they "took everything that makes Rainbow Dash her and demonized her for it," pointing out that they "could have just talked to her about it." He then says that "just to put the cherry on it, [they] didn't even have the decency to apologize." He then asks how they would have felt if the same were done to any of them. He then finishes by saying that they were lucky Rainbow forgave them, saying that if the same were done to him, he would have moved away because "[he] would've never wanted to see any of [them] again… unless a broken bottle was involved," as he put it.

Twilight and the others(sans Rainbow Dash) then realize that he's right. Fluttershy then apologizes to Rainbow Dash, hugging her in the process, then Applejack does the same. Rainbow smiles and says that they don't have to apologize as she had already forgiven them, but Twilight says that [her forgiveness] doesn't change the fact that they acted how they did. She has them all promise to talk to each other about problems with their behavior, and they all nod in agreement.

Logan expresses that he's proud of them for their reconciliation, and then asks who wants to battle next. Rarity volunteers to battle Rainbow Dash, wanting revenge for when Rainbow Dash abandoned her and Pinkie Pie in the desert. Rainbow Dash says that she had apologized for that, but Rarity still wishes to battle her. Twilight has Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia, saying she'll want to play with them. As Spike sends the letter, Fluttershy comments that Discord would love to play it too.

Suddenly, Discord and Celestia appear. Celestia then thanks Logan for talking to Twilight and the others about the Mare-Do-Well incident. Twilight is surprised that she knew about the incident, and Celestia expresses that she was very ashamed at them for pulling a stunt like that. She then says that she knows they knew better than that, and that she would have berated them for their actions, but because Rainbow Dash was so forgiving of them, she let it slide. She then tells Logan that if he hadn't chastised them for their actions, she would have. Confused, Logan asks why she waited until now to do so, to which Celestia replies that Twilight and the others' actions niggled away in the back of her mind until she needed to get it off her chest, and that now she doesn't need to.

Discord begins laughing at Twilight for rocking out while she and Logan were playing "Even Flow," claiming that such behavior was "inappropriate for a princess," and that if the press had seen her, then her "wildness would be on the front page of every newspaper in Equestria." He then says that ponies would think that Celestia made a mistake in crowning Twilight as the newest Princess of Equestria, but before he can finish saying that, Logan slaps him across the face. Celestia thanks Logan for this, expressing her thought that "[Discord] would never shut up." Logan then tells Discord that if he "pulled another stunt like he did with Tirek," the result would be Logan "shove[ing] [his] hoof so far up [Discord's] [redacted], that [his] boot would become permanently lodged in [Discord's] colon." Discord meekly nods, and Rarity begins her battle with Rainbow Dash.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash battle each other while playing "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," as made famous by Pat Benatar. Eventually, Rarity won the battle. Rainbow Dash and Rarity congratulate each other. Logan asks who wants to go next, and Celestia and Discord say that they would like to try their hoof and claw at battle mode, respectively. Celestia says she "won't be going easy on [Discord]", so she and Discord select Hard difficulty. She then selects the song "The Number of the Beast."

Logan expresses surprise, saying he didn't know that Celestia was a fan of Iron Maiden, to which Celestia replies, "Well now [he] do[es]." She and Discord then battle each other. Neither of them win the first time, and the song restarts in "Sudden Death" mode, wherein Celestia won the match. She and Discord congratulate each other and Logan says that they've spent enough time with Guitar Hero III, and tells them it's time to move on to Guitar Hero World Tour.